Integrating planning in a devolved Scotland

The Twisting Paths to Planning Reform in Scotland

“…These include priorities relating to sustainable development, community planning, social justice and inclusion, and transport. This creates a real challenge to integrating public policy at large, but specifically for spatial planning in particular contexts (Allmendinger, 2003b;Morphet, 2004). Significantly, however, these areas of public policy draw down on their own statutory and policy drivers, and may involve very different spatial conceptualizations and expression.…”

“…Any such distinctions in institutional arrangements and policy priorities across the UK may be explained, in part, by the nature of the differential devolved forms and their associated powers (McNaughton, 1998). Indeed, since devolution, a number of differences in approach have become relatively more evident in public policy in the devolved nation states, reflecting the subsequently articulated public policy priorities of the individual devolved administrations (Allmendinger, 2003b). In Scotland, for example, attention has been paid to what has been perceived as distinctively Scottish land based issues, such as land tenure reform and the designation of national park areas .…”

Community Planning and Land Use Planning in Scotland

“…Devolution may be seen as integral to the UK government's attempts to modernize the ways in which the public sector is organized and managed, although how the precise infrastructure has been designed and how its effects are socially constructed and with what consequences is contested (Bennett et al, 2002;Jefferey, 2002). Devolution is also experienced differentially, and attention has been drawn to the processes of convergence and divergence in the UK context (Allmendinger, 2003;Keating, 2005;Parry, 2002). As a model, it forms part of a wider body of thinking that encourages 'devolution and delegation' (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 2004).…”

“…In the early stages of the introduction of community planning there was considerable debate around the nature of its relationship with land use planning (Allmendinger, 2003;Morphet, 2004;Scottish Executive, 2002b), and its likely impact on economic development, social inclusion and sustainable development (Roberts, 2003). As the modernization agenda continues, and the new land use planning and community planning practices have begun to mature, it is timely to examine how these two parallel processes are working in practice, and to consider their inter-relationships.…”